By Gloria Ikibah
The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will today April 4, 2024 inaugurate the 6th Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament (The House of Representatives of the Peoples of the Community), at the nation’s capital, Abuja, Nigeria.
Naijablitznews.com reports that the inaugural Session of the Parliament which formally marks the commencement of the business of the 6th legislature, is in pursuant to Article 28 of the Supplementary Act on the Enhancement of the Powers of the ECOWAS Parliament of 2016, following the end of the Fifth Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament on March 8, 2024.
One of the high points of the inaugural session is the swearing in of the Representatives elected to the ECOWAS Parliament by the various National Assemblies or their equivalence in every
Member State, with the new Members affirming before the Chairman of The Authority, their commitment to serve the interests of the peoples of the sub-region.
Members will also elect The Speaker of the Sixth Legislature to serve a four-year tenure, in accordance with the provisions of the Supplementary Act 2016.
Article 24 of the Supplementary Act of the Parliament relating to the Enhancement of the Powers of Parliament provides that the position of the Speaker of the Parliament shall be allocated to Member States by the Authority, in line with an established rotational system based on the alphabetical order of Member States.
Consequently, Decision A/DEC.1/3/24 of The Authority of Heads of State and Government, allocating the position of Speaker of the Sixth Legislature, was recently signed by its Chairman.
In a statement by the Communications Department of the ECOWAS Parliament, the Republic of Togo comes next in
alphabetical order of Member States after Sierra Leone which held the position of Speaker in the just ended Fifth Legislature.
It reads: “Article 2 (2) of the Supplementary Act states that ‘Members of the ECOWAS Parliament shall represent All the peoples of the Community’.
“It is pertinent to note that for the purpose of inaugurating the Sixth Legislature, invitations were extended by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, to the Heads of Government of the Republics of Niger, Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso, for the participation of Members of their National Assemblies or equivalent institutions.
It is expected therefore, that the 115 Members of Parliament representing the 15 Member States, shall be present for the commencement of the new legislature, although only the Republic of Guinea has forwarded the names of their elected representatives to the President
of the ECOWAS Commission”.
Naijablitznews.com recalled that the ECOWAS Parliament is the representative assembly of the peoples of the Community. It has 115 seats. Each Member State is guaranteed a minimum of allotted five seats. The remaining forty seats are distributed in proportion to the population of each country.
Consequently, Nigeria has a total of 35 seats followed by Ghana with eight seats. Côte d’Ivoire is allotted seven seats, whereas Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Senegal have six seats respectively.
The remaining ECOWAS Member States, namely Benin, Cabo Verde, The
Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Togo, have allotted to each of them, five
seats.
